We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming....

...to tell you that I am 100% overwhelmed with life and I'm going to be taking a break from obsessive couponing and blogging about everything. If you didn't notice, there was no Menu Plan Monday post this week because I didn't even plan our meals for the week! (Luckily we had a TON of leftovers from the weekend and for the rest of the nights we were able to eat out of the freezer).

I feel like my life shouldn't be this busy....AT ALL. I'm 30, happily married, no kids, great job, great family, and great friends. I definitely wouldn't say that I'm stressed out, but somehow my life got BUSY! I miss being bored!! (but only for short amounts of time ;)

I'm going to stop trying to get "every deal" and really start shopping at only 2 stores, Dominick's and Aldi. I was on a CVS run for a while, but quite honestly I probably don't have to buy any toiletry items for another year! I think we'll be okay. Tom is going to get more involved in the planning process since we're trying to keep it simple. He says it's too "complicated" when I plan everything out...which I tend to agree as I think I have a slight control issue with couponing!

Anyways, here is when I realized how overwhelmed I was on Sunday when we got an extra paper delivered to our door and then we got the "Weekend Spanish Paper" that had coupons in it as well.

There still may be sporadic posts when I have time and don't feel obliged to blog just because I'm supposed to blog on a schedule. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy relaxing a little bit more!

Recipe of the Week - Pizza Rice Casserole

I made this last week. It was SO easy and so good! I kind of improvised slightly with the ingredients and cooking time. Here is what I did.


Pizza Rice Casserole from Fix it and Forget it - 5 Ingredient Favorites

1 lb ground beef (browned with onion and garlic)
1 jar of pizza sauce (I may use 2 or 1.5 next time)
1 8 oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (may use 1.5 next time)
Some cut up pepperoni
1 bag rice
3-4 cups of water

Mix all ingredients together in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with ranch dressing on the side if you are a ranch-o-holic like me :) Oh, and of course, a salad :)

Weekly Spending - Happy New Year!

This week's post will be similar to last week's....in that the 2 main stores we went to were Aldi and CVS. We also made a stop at Binny's Beverage Depot to get a few choice beverages for NYE. I made one other stop to Bed Bath and Beyond last Sunday to stock up on Yankee candles that were 50% off and I used a couple $10 off $25 coupons I had printed a couple months back. I got 4 large jar candles and 2 tarts for $35 (including tax). These candles are normally $25 for ONE jar candle!

Aldi: Spent $25.65

CVS: Spent $2.61 ($0.85 before tax!!) Received $7 in ECB's!

Total spent (minus Binny's): $63.31

Recipe of the Week - Lemon Glaze Lemon Bars with Blackberries

Hmmm, am I motivated enough to start a new feature on this blog....Recipe of the Week? We shall see. I tried this a while back on my regular blog but I never could keep up. For this blog's Recipe of the Week, I plan to either elaborate on a recipe I posted on Menu Plan Monday or offer up something new and different that I made but didn't post on Menu Plan Monday.

Last week when I made tons of cookies for Tom's lab, one of the things I decided to bake was Luscious Lemon Bars. I happened to have some leftover lemon drizzle from a box of lemon-poppy seed muffin mix (I made the muffins without the drizzle). I heated up the lemon bars in the microwave for a few seconds, drizzled a little lemon glaze on top, then added some blackberries, and drizzled a little bit more lemon glaze. Nom nom nom. A sweet snack with a tiny bit of healthiness!

Menu Plan Monday

I *heart* turkey leftovers! There are so many yummy things to make and I love that the meat is already cooked!

Sunday: Best Ever Turkey Noodle Soup
Monday: Chicken Casserole from an Amish cookbook Tom's mom gave me last year for Christmas (But with leftover turkey)
Tuesday: Crockpot Pizza Rice Casserole (from Fix it and Forget it), salad
Wednesday: Company Mac & Cheese, Garlic Cheddar Chicken, Sauteed Apples
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Dinner with The Drankas! Happy New Year!
Saturday: Stuffed Pork chops, Some sort of veggie mix, orzo

As always, be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

Weekly Savings - Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas!! We only did a little grocery shopping at the beginning of this week. Notice I said "We." Tom came with me to help carry everything on our trip to Aldi. It was supposed to only be a small trip but then I bought some extra items to make cookies for Tom's lab and then of course, we picked up some extra things as we were strolling down the aisles.

Spent: $43.77

We also swung by CVS because I had some ECB's that I needed to use up. I spent $1.60 OOP (out of pocket) which was basically all tax! Before tax my total came to $0.01!! And then I received $11.99 back in brand new ECB's! I think that's the best scenario I've ever done!

We also ran into Jewel real quick and spent $6.66 (yikes!) on sausage and some nose pad things to fix Tom's glasses.

Total for the week: $52.03 Not too bad!!!

Menu Plan Monday

First of all, allow me to recommend the Hot Chicken Salad Sandwiches from last week. Yum! I heated everything in the microwave for time's sake and it was SO good! I imagine it would be better in the crock pot (if you have the time) because it allows the flavors to blend together a little longer, but it was amazing in the microwave alone.

Sunday: Spinach stuffed chicken
I'm kind of going to wing this one. I found the recipe in a magazine. Some spinach, some cheese....I'll let you know how it turns out :)

Monday: Cha-cha's White Chicken Chili, pineapple

Tuesday: Crock Pot Amazing meat loaf (from Fix it and Forget it), salad

Wednesday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Fiesta Surprise

I made up this last year with some leftovers I had on hand and it ended up being an instant favorite.

1 can rotel, 1/2 pound ground beef (cooked), 1-2 cups cooked rice, shredded fiesta cheese, broken up tortilla chips. Mix all ingredients, sprinkle cheese on top and put in oven for ~15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Christmas: Two hour Turkey (which always takes longer than 2 hours!), stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus



As always, be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!